One of Martin Luther's main themes is authority, authority of parents, of husband, of law, and of scripture. His concept of authority is that parents should not overextend their authority when it comes to forcing an engagement. They should not force a daughter to go into a marriage that they will not be happy with; he stated that this is not right in the sight of God, that it is not what God wants. Martin Luther was against secret betrothals because then the public will not know if a couple are married or not, and the wife can take on a second husband. If she does she is an adulteress in the sight of God, however, if she leaves her second husband to go back to her first, she is an adulteress in the sight of the public. Even though Luther is all for parental authority, he still rejects forced engagements.

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Martin Luther's face and hands cast at his death.

He believes this because a daughter should not be forced to marry someone she will not be happy with, parents must stay within limits. They cannot choose whether or not a daughter will love and be happy with her husband. So they, in the same way, should not make her choice for her. This is one of the few rights, he believed, one should have. Luther encouraged couples to marry not only for love, but for happiness as well. There will be arguments, but one needs to be happy for the marriage to have a higher chance of survival.

On the matters of divorce, Luther stated that adultery is a ground for divorce, and not everything that the Roman church has said. He believed that the innocent one should forgive the adulteress spouse. However, he said that if he just cannot bring himself to stay married, then he has...

Reviews of: "Martin Luther: On Marriage Matters":

Great topic from quite a controversial and interesting period of world history. Flows smoothly, is interesting to read, obviously well researched and well presented. Makes for a great read and even an editorial piece.

Did Luther expect his view on marriage to be enforced on others by the state or is this just his moral/religious personal opinion?

You really surprised me by saying that women would apppreciate Luther's view on marraige. I thought he was really big on Paul's view that women should be subordinate to men. Also, just because Luther's views on marraige were better than the Roman Catholic church's, doesn't mean that women should like Luther's. It seems like it would be an option of the lesser of two evils in my opinion.

I too was surprised by your conclusion, especially after outlining Luther's oppressive religious views in relation to personal and moral rights and behaviours. However, I agree that his opinions give us an insight into religious impositions onto a person's individual rights and freedoms.

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